The present invention relates generally to railroad warning systems and specifically to a warning system for railroad maintenance-of-way personnel working on or in the vicinity of active railroad tracks.
Railroad crews working on or in the vicinity of active railroad tracks are susceptible to accidents as a result of not being sufficiently warned of an oncoming train entering the work area. The rail work is typically performed in isolated regions away from crossing areas, and therefore the work crews do not have the benefit of standard crossing signals to warn them of approaching trains. Thus, there lies a need for a reliable warning system for warning maintenance-of-way crews which allows the crew to concentrate on the work at hand while providing adequate warning of oncoming train hazards in order to clear the tracks of tools, equipment and workers to avoid an accident. The railroad crew warning system is further required to be portable and easily set up by the crew in a relatively short period of time. Additionally, the warning system should be of sufficient operational efficiency to activate the warning system only upon the detection of a train to thereby mitigate the natural human tendency to ignore the warning system after false activations.
The present invention provides a system for warning railroad crews working on or in the vicinity of railroad tracks of oncoming trains. A train detector probe is placed near the train rails at a predetermined distance from the works crew in either direction along the tracks. Electronic detection, processing and control circuitry receive and process the detector probe signal which is transmitted via a radio frequency communications link to a receiver in the located vicinity of the crew. The receiver processes the received train detection signal and thereupon activates a warning system which provides visual and audio warning to the crew of the presence of an incoming train.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention claimed. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate an embodiment of the invention and together with the general description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.